the gridiron.

[Illustration: THE PROTECTING "CUT-OFF."]

"It is possible, theoretically, to build an underground cellar so tight
that it may be lifted up on posts and used for a water-tank, or set
afloat like a compartment-built iron steamer. Such walls may be
necessary under certain circumstances. They may be necessary for
cellars that are founded in swamps, in salt marshes below the level of
the sea, and in old river-beds, where the original iniquity of the
standing water is made still more iniquitous by the inevitable foulness
of the washing from streets and the unclean refuse from sinks and back
doors. But for buildings that have four independent walls, with room
enough for a man to ride around his own house in a wheelbarrow without
trespassing on his neighbors, and which are not hopelessly depressed
below all their surroundings, it is better to use a little moral
suasion on the land itself than to spend one's resources in a defiant
water-proof construction. Instead of drain tiles, small stones covered
with a thin layer of hay or straw before being buried in the sand may
be used if more economical.

"If you cannot find the clean outlet for these buried drains or tiles
below the level of the cellar bottom, then raise the cellar, house and
all. No matter if you are accused of having a 'stuck up' house--better
be stuck up than stuck in the mud. Raise it till the entire cellar is
well above the level of thorough drainage. If this happens to carry it
above the surface of the ground, set the house on posts and hang the
cellar under the floor like a work-bag under a table or the basket to a
balloon.